1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention generally pertains to equipment used at a vehicle loading dock and more specifically to a brace and an operational method that helps suppress the vehicle's vertical movement, augmenting the vehicle's suspension, as the vehicle is being loaded or unloaded of its freight.
2. Description of Related Art
A typical truck loading dock of a building includes an exterior doorway with an elevated platform for loading and unloading vehicles such as trucks and trailers. Many loading docks have a dock leveler to compensate for height differences between the loading dock platform and an adjacent bed of a cargo transport vehicle i.e. truck or trailer. A typical dock leveler includes a deck, also known as a ramp or dock board, which is pivotally hinged along its back edge to vary the height of its front edge. An extension plate, or lip, extends outward from the deck's front edge to span the gap between the rear of the trailer bed and the front edge of the deck. Extending from the deck's front edge, the lip rests upon the truck bed to form a bridge between the deck and the bed. This allows personnel and material handling equipment, such as a forklift truck, to readily move on and off the vehicle during loading and unloading operations.
When a forklift drives over the dock leveler and onto the trailer bed, the weight of the forklift and the cargo it may be carrying can add a significant load to the truck bed. Likewise, when the forklift exits the truck bed, weight is removed form the trailer. Thus, the load applied to the trailer changes repeatedly during the loading/unloading process. The trailer's suspension may respond to these load changes by allowing the trailer to raise and lower accordingly.
Unfortunately, the resulting vertical movement of the trailer may be excessive and can create some problems. For instance the rear or side edges of the trailer usually engage some type of dock seal that is mounted at a generally fixed location along the doorway of the dock, so excessive vertical movement of the trailer can prematurely wear out the seal. Also, a forklift suddenly descending upon entering the trailer can be disconcerting to the driver of the forklift. The problem becomes worse when the trailer has an air suspension system.
With air suspension, air-pressurized bladders support the weight of the trailer and its cargo. Air suspension systems typically include an air compressor, a holding tank, and various control valves that cooperate to add or release a controlled amount of air from the bladders to help maintain the trailer at a certain height. So, when a forklift enters the trailer, pressurized air is forced into the bladders to compensate for the forklift's added weight. Due to the suspension system's delayed response time, however, the trailer may initially sink when the forklift first enters and later rise back up toward its intended height as, or immediately after the forklift departs. Then, when the forklift leaves and removes its weight from the trailer, the recently added air in the bladders lifts the trailer above its designed height. The system compensates for the overshoot by then releasing some air from the bladders until the trailer settles back down to it original height. This down/up cycle of the trailer repeats itself with every load the forklift takes on or off the trailer. Compared to other suspension systems, air suspensions usually provide much greater vertical movement. And due to the mechanical linkage of typical air suspension systems, the vertical movement of the trailer is usually accompanied by a generally equal amount of horizontal movement as well.
To eliminate the repeated movement of the trailer, an air suspension system may have its air dumped or completely exhausted from the bladders before the loading or unloading process begins. This causes the trailer to descend until the suspension system bottoms out, whereby the suspension becomes inactive, and the trailer remains at its bottomed out position while the trailer is loaded or unloaded of its cargo. Although this may correct the problems associated with movement of the trailer during loading and unloading, the low position of the trailer bed can create another problem. For a dock leveler to reach such an extremely low trailer bed, the deck may need to be set at such a steep incline that it may be difficult for the forklift to travel across the deck. This problem sometimes can be corrected by utilizing a significantly longer dock leveler at a greater cost and forfeiture of valuable warehouse floor space.
Some loading docks may be provided with a vehicle restraint that helps prevent a truck or trailer from accidentally pulling away from the dock. Such vehicle restraints usually include a hook or barrier that reaches up in front of the vehicle's RIG (rear impact guard) or ICC bar. Examples of such vehicle restraints are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,488,464 and 6,431, 819. Instead of obstructing vertical movement of the vehicle during its loading or unloading, these patented vehicle restraints do just the opposite, they accommodate or allow the vehicle the freedom to move vertically. The '819 patent, for instance, discloses a spring that compresses with any downward force that an ICC bar may exert. Similarly, the vehicle restraint of the '464 patent includes a pressure relief valve that can be set to hold the weight of the restraint itself, but the relief valve is not meant to impair the downward movement of the vehicle.
Conceivably a solid, immovable support structure, such as an hydraulic jack, could be placed underneath the ICC bar to completely eliminate any vertical movement of the vehicle or actually lift the vehicle; however, such a support structure could result in an excessive upward reactive force being applied to the ICC bar and the underside of the trailer bed to which the bar is attached. More specifically, if the trailer bed were held stationary, any added weight of cargo or the weight of a forklift entering the trailer would be transmitted through the ICC bar and to the frame, neither of which may be designed to sustain such loads. Thus, holding the trailer bed completely immovable could damage the ICC bar or other parts of the trailer.
Such solid vehicle support systems are known in the art. Examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,637,454 and 6,065923, as well as Japanese patent abstract 6114930A. These systems however, appear to be dedicated purpose designs involving special construction of the loading dock and often only work with trailers designed and fabricated specifically to interact with such a support. Most of these applications are found where automated loading systems are employed, where precise alignment between the dock floor and the trailer floor is required, often involving lifting of the trailer prior to arresting vertical and sometimes horizontal mobility of the trailer and completely blocking the operation of the onboard trailer suspension system. None of these designs are intended to work with typical every day loading dock operations.
There is a need for a method and or apparatus that alleviates the problems created by a vehicle moving in response to being loaded or unloaded of its cargo, that can readily be installed in front of loading docks to interact with a broad range of cargo transport vehicles, without requiring modifications to the vehicles or special loading dock designs.